


Tail as Old as Time

by weaselett



Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 07:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20467448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/pseuds/weaselett
Summary: There's a story, heard once long ago.Turns out it wasn't so much a story.





	Tail as Old as Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lea_hazel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/gifts).

_In days of old, the skies were full of wonders_

It started simple, and it started hard. He wouldn't have had it any other way, but that doesn’t stop the internet trolls from telling him he’s stupid. 

The way of the world and all that. 

Hardison grins, admiring the distance between the bed on which he is lying and the roof. He should be cold, but there’s no way that’s happening with the two of them draped over him like they are. 

It itches a little, where scales rest a little low on his stomach, but he’s getting used to that. There’s a shimmer that dances across the ceiling, the kind of thing a cat might chance, and he wonders, in that haze that always comes after, if Parker has ever tried to chase her own reflections. 

-  
_With a cry that was more like a song, they celebrated_

“Damnit woman.” Hardison wobbled, just a little, as his feet came to rest on solid ground. Didn’t matter how often he did it, didn’t matter how many times they pushed him, didn’t make it any damn bit easier. 

Open air is not a place he’s comfortable with. 

Parker’s yell echoes, and the glee sets his heart beating just a little faster. He can’t help but look up, can’t help but admire her. 

“See?” She’s grinning, so hard he wonders that her face don’t hurt, as she stands with all the grace he lacks. His nana would approve of that at the very least. 

“I see you.”

Parker rolls her eyes, “You are so weirdddd.”

Hardison laughs, ducks his head, ignores Eliot’s teasing over the comms. He can join in any time he wants, the man even enjoys it. 

-  
_you will know them by the gleam in their eye_

He didn’t see it straight away, but by the time they cross paths for real he’s been doing his damned hardest not to think about such things. 

To not dream of the possibilities. There are other things, with better writing, in the sci-fi genre for him to enjoy. He let go of the others, let them drift away, just a little further. 

It’s after, after they’ve moved offices, after he’s committed himself to waiting, to easing into it. After he’s started to work on knowing the both of them. 

He’s in way too deep to back away, and damn if that isn’t just the best part. 

He loves code, loves every score, every victory, but this thing he’s on the very edge of, it’s so much better. 

It’s there in every move Parker makes, it’s there in the way Eliot stays close, always ready. 

It’s intoxicating and he might just be willing to give up the orange soda if they make him. 

(But never the gummy frogs, they can prise them from his cold dead fingers. Man’s gotta have his sweet things when he’s coding on little to no sleep.)

-  
_they give trust with difficulty, in this new world they face_

Tara’s a surprise, in so many ways. 

She’s obvious. The little touches, movements, the sense of age about her. The tingle on his skin, the weight she brings to a room. 

It doesn’t take him any time at all to recognise what she is. At least, in _that_ way. 

He’s as damned slow as the others when it comes to her being the help Sophie’s sent. 

Hardison can’t help but hope that Sophie doesn’t know, that she’s as ignorant of that side of the world as she seems. Sending _Tara_ of all people when they’re all already on edge is a terrible plan. 

But then. Tara seems to be just what Nate needs. 

He wonders, gets a little lost in the echoes of a story heard long ago, as they see more of Tara. He wonders of the story behind the scar that they sure as hell didn’t give her, but for once in his life, somehow, he doesn’t dive any deeper than he already has. 

Not like they have much to work from anyhoo. 

Parker warms to Tara, slowly, but he’s impressed, even hopeful. Maybe it’ll be nice for her to have company. Or whatever, she’s got Eliot, and Hardison even though he knows it’s not quite the same thing. 

They’re on the edge, he’s sure of it. 

The message boards remain absolutely no help, but it’s pretty much always been that way. And those stupid trolls can just get their damn selves eaten for all he cares. 

-  
_the world is happily ignorant, and they hide away, shrouded safe and sound, from hostile eyes_

He finds Parker on the roof, arms wrapped around herself. Brooding in her own way. 

Portland’s never really completely dark, but the nature of the light, this late, makes her look all the more ethereal to him. 

“Hey, what’s got you hiding away up here?” 

She turns her head just a little, looks at him through her eyelashes, and there’s just the slightest tremble in her shoulders. It’s the hardest damn thing to watch, it always is. 

“Come on babe, you know there’s not a thing you gotta hide from me.” He has never asked, has never said a word. Hardison moves closer, but he doesn’t touch. Not then. 

Parker shakes her head, looks down, just for a moment, “Sometimes….it’s so hard.”

He waits. 

Just as she deserves. Just as he always has, even before he knew it was her he was waiting for. 

“There’s, stuff, you don’t know.” She almost reaches out, and his aches, just a little more. 

“And that’s fine.”

She half glares, “People don’t keep secrets from their,” her hands move, as though to grasp the right words, “from their people.” 

“That’s a lie people like to tell.” Eliot breaks in, just a few feet from them, chest bare under the open shirt that’s seen better days.

Parker huffs an almost laugh and wipes at her nose. “It’s big secret.”

Eliot looks at Hardison and he can’t help but shrug in reply. They aren’t the same, Eliot’s his own thing, just as Parker is, and some days Hardison wonders how the hell they’ve taken to him like they have. 

“You don’t need to tell us a thing.” Eliot says in reply, firm, determined, so totally Eliot. Man does not have conversation when he can use his body instead. 

Most of the time, that’s the finest thing Hardison’s ever known. 

Other times, it just makes him feel dang old. 

Which is stupid. 

Hardison takes a moment, and a deep breathe, weighing it up, then he just jumps. Like they’ve been wanting to all these years. “Maybe, we already know, and we don’t care.”

Eliot pulls back, just a little, and for a minute Hardison’s proud of managing to surprise him. 

“Hardison.”

Parker moves, and Hardison barely has time to react before she’s in his space, there’s a flicker of a moment, like she’s going to say something before she shakes her head and just changes. 

It’s a ripple, a shift in the air, and she’s still the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. 

Eliot’s pale, awed, hands moving to touch but not quite making the contact. Hardison just laughs, feels himself dancing. He doesn’t hesitate, he reaches out, breathes it in. 

How’d he ever get so lucky?

-  
_Once upon a time, the dragons didn’t have to hide._

It was a story Hardison had only vaguely remembered. A soft voice, gentle hands, and a story.

It’s a story he had clung to, even after his nana had told him that dragons didn’t exist. 

That dragons couldn’t exist. After all, they weren’t in the good book were they?

He could enjoy his books, read about all kinds of worlds, but it was best he remembered they were just stories. 

His nana was amazing, and usually right, but that was the one thing he knew she was wrong about.

He’d stopped holding on to the story so hard, when he’d fallen hard for computers. For the code, the answers, the way out. 

Age of the Geek. Age of him. 

Now, warm and content in Parker’s place, he allows himself to remember that voice, those hands, that story. 

His mother, he thinks, she would be proud. Would be happy for her boy. 

He can’t help the little laugh that escapes him. 

“What...” Eliot mumbles, shifting a little against Hardison’s side, only half awake. 

“Go back to sleep man, it’s nothing.”

“Hmmmm.” His knight in shining armour ain’t accepting it. Hardison grins, presses a kiss to Eliot’s nose. Just because. 

Eliot squawks, just a little, and it’s the cutest thing. 

“Just thinking, of a story I heard once.”

Eliot settles, and smiles, soft, “Yeah, I figure I might have heard a story like that once.” His hand drifts to Parker, runs over her scales. 

“I’ve got a lot to thank that story for.” Hardison almost jokes, stroking the oh so soft scales.

“Yeah.” Eliot agrees, pulling Hardison a little closer with his free hand.

“Sleeping.” Parker rumbles, rolling to press them both to the mattress, “Shush.”

“Yes ma’am.” Hardison replies, and laughs when she uses a talon to prod him in reply, then he closes his eyes, smiling. 

It was the best bedtime story.


End file.
